System for providing aggregate-rate communication services

ABSTRACT

A system for providing aggregate-rate communication services is provided. The system comprises a provider network, having an arbitrary topology; a plurality of customers; and a plurality of port nodes, comprising at least one aggregation-group. Port nodes in the at least one aggregation-group share capacity of the at least one aggregation-group fairly. Each of the plurality of customers is associated with at least one of the plurality of port nodes to access the provider network.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the priority of: U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/758,870, filed on Jan. 13, 2006, “METHOD OF RATE CONTROL FOR ANETHERNET VIRTUAL SHARED MEDIUM” by Robert Sultan; and U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/820,202, filed on Jul. 24, 2006, “SYSTEM AND METHODOF RATE-CONTROL FOR AN ETHERNET VIRTUAL SHARED MEDIUM” by Robert Sultan,Stein Gjessing, Xuan Zhang, Zhushen Deng, Linda Dunbar, Lucy Yong,Jianfei He, and Xixiang Li.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to: U.S. Application No. ______ , filedconcurrently with the present application on ______ , “SYSTEM FORRATE-CONTROL OF AGGREGATE-RATE COMMUNICATION SERVICES”, by RobertSultan, Stein Gjessing, Xuan Zhang, Zhusheng Deng, Xixiang Li, andJianfei He; and U.S. Application No. ______ , filed concurrently withthe present application on ______ , “SYSTEM FOR RATE MANAGEMENT OFAGGREGATE-RATE COMMUNICATION SERVICES”, by Robert Sultan, Linda Dunbar,and Lucy Yong.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to network communications, andmore particularly, to a versatile system for providing aggregate-ratecommunication services in a network of an arbitrary topology.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ethernet is one of the most widely-installed Local Area Network (LAN)technologies. Users are attracted by a number of advantages of Ethernetservices, including ease of use, cost effectiveness, flexibility, andwide rage of service options. Ethernet services have been extendedthroughout metropolitan areas and beyond.

Ethernet services may vary in many ways. The Metropolitan Ethernet Forum(MEF) defines two types of Ethernet services: E-Line services, which arepoint-to-point services; and E-LAN services, which are multipointservices. MEF specifies distinct layer-1 and layer-2 E-LAN services. Alayer-1 E-LAN service is called an Ethernet LAN (ELAN) service, and alayer-2 E-LAN service is called an Ethernet Virtual LAN (EVLAN) service.The EVLAN allows users to exchange frames as if connected to a sharedmedium LAN.

Two methods currently used to specify rate guarantees for EVLAN servicesare port-to-port guarantee and per-port guarantee. Port-to-portguarantee specifies a distinct bandwidth guaranteed for traffic from aspecific port to another specific port. This is a traditional guaranteeprovided in frame relay and private-line services. This method may bemore efficient when port-to-port traffic rate is relatively constant.

Per-port guarantee specifies distinct bandwidth guaranteed for trafficoriginating from each port, without regard to destination ports. Thistype of guarantee is relatively easy to police as only knowledge oflocal port ingress traffic is required. A service provider needs to,however, support a case in which every user is sending at a full ingressrate.

A technology known as an Ethernet Bus (or Carrier Sense MultipleAccess/Collision Detection—CSMA/CD, or Shared Medium Ethernet) providesservices similar to an aggregate-rate guarantee. An Ethernet Bus has theability to share the capacity of a network among user ports, with someinefficiency introduced by methods of mediation among the ports.However, the Ethernet Bus may not be applied to networks of arbitrarytechnology, and the specified aggregate-rate may not have an arbitraryvalue.

U.S. patent application No. 20030165146 describes how the capacity of anetwork having a ring topology may be shared among users, such that eachinstance of service appears to its users as a private network, whosecapacity is shared fairly among its users. However, this method is notapplicable to a network of an arbitrary topology.

The IEEE P802.1ad Draft Standard for Local and Metropolitan AreaNetworks—Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks—Amendment 4: ProviderBridges, describes how a network of arbitrary topology may bepartitioned into distinct instances of a Service Virtual LAN (SVLAN).However, the method of IEEE P802.1ad does not explicitly supportaggregate-rate services or fair sharing of network capacity amongmembers of a group of users.

The IEEE P802.17 Standard for Information Technology —Telecommunicationsand information exchange between systems —Local and metropolitan areanetworks—Specific requirements —Part 17: Resilient Packet Ring (RPR)access method and physical layer specifications, describes how thecapacity of a network having a ring topology may be shared fairly amongits users. However, the method of IEEE P802.17 only supports the fairsharing of capacity in a network having a ring topology, and is notapplicable for a network of arbitrary topology.

The Metropolitan Ethernet Forum—Technical Specification D00044_(—)004Ethernet Services Attributes—Phase 2—Approved Draft 4, 14 Nov. 2005,describes how capacity may be associated with a user port, or with avirtual connection between or among user ports. However, the MetroEthernet Forum method does not explicitly support aggregate-rateservices or fair sharing of capacity among members of a group of userports associated with a virtual connection.

Therefore, there is a need for a system that provides flexible and costeffective rate guarantee services in a communications network; anaggregate-rate guarantee, with sharing of aggregate capacity fairlyamong members of a group of customer ports, and applicable to a networkof an arbitrary topology; aggregate-rate services that accommodatebursty network traffic in an efficient and cost effective manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses a system for providing aggregate-ratecommunication services. The system comprises a provider network, havingan arbitrary topology; a plurality of customers; and a plurality of portnodes, comprising at least one aggregation-group; wherein port nodes ofthe at least one aggregation-group share capacity associated with the atleast one aggregation-group fairly. Each of the plurality of customersis associated with at least one of the plurality of port node to accessthe provider network.

One aggregation-group comprises a group of port nodes sharing fairly aguaranteed-rate. The guaranteed-rate may be requested or purchased by acustomer, and provisioned by a service provider. A customer may beassociated with multiple aggregation-groups. A customer may also beassociated with a port node that does not belong to anaggregation-group.

The system in the present invention provides registration andderegistration mechanism to create and delete an aggregation-group in aprovider network, and mechanism for a port to join or withdraw anaggregation-group. A performance monitoring mechanism is provided tomake sure the aggregate-rate services provided by the system meets aservice level agreement.

The system may be applied to enterprise Local Area Networks (LANs). Thesystem may also be applied to any communications network that may becharacterized as having multiple points of ingress, each of which has ameasurable ingress rate.

The system allows a service provider to meet customer requirements forbursty, high-bandwidth connectivity, without commitment of excessivelylarge quantities of bandwidth, and provides aggregate-rate services in aflexible and cost effective manner.

The following description and drawings set forth in detail a number ofillustrative embodiments of the invention. These embodiments areindicative of but a few of the various ways in which the presentinvention may be implemented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and itsadvantages, reference is now made to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencenumerals represent like parts:

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a service provider network whichprovides aggregate-rate services according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of an aggregate-rate service modelaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of an aggregate-rate service modelaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of an aggregate-rate service modelaccording to the present invention; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of an aggregate-rate service modelaccording to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following discussion is presented to enable a person skilled in theart to make and use the invention. The general principles describedherein may be applied to embodiments and applications other than thosedetailed below without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention as defined herein. The present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accordedthe widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosedherein.

The following terms are used in the description of the present inventionbelow:

Aggregation-group: The set of ports that share a guaranteed-rate.

Aggregate-rate: sum of the ingress rates of the members of anaggregation-group.

Ingress: The direction from a user of a service to a provider of theservice.

Port: The interface by which a user accesses the services of a providernetwork. Examples are an 802.1ad Provider Edge Bridge (PEB) port or aMetropolitan Ethernet Forum (MEF) User-Network Interface (UNI).

Ramping: A method of allowed-rate assignment in which the allowed-rateis assigned a value that is larger than the current value of a measuredingress-rate.

Service Provider Network: A network offering connectivity services tocustomers, for example, an IEEE 802.1ad Provider Bridged Network (PBN)or an MEF Metropolitan Ethernet (MEN).

Service Instance: An instance of the connectivity service offered by aprovider network. Connectivity is permitted only between portsassociated with the same service instance. Examples are an IEEE 802.1adService Virtual Local Area network (VLAN) or an MEF Ethernet VirtualConnection (EVC).

Notation used in the present invention is described in the following.For notational convenience, the symbol Σ represents

$\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{n}$

unless otherwise specified. I_((i,t)) indicates the value of Iassociated with port i at the end of time interval t.

Other identifiers are as follows:

A_(i) (allowed-rate): The maximum rate at which traffic from a user isadmitted to a service provider network at port i of anaggregation-group. I_(i) always≦A_(i). O_(i)>A_(i) implies I_(i)=A_(i).

B: The minimum amount by which the value of A_(i) for the next timeinterval should exceed the current value of I_(i) when ramping ofallowed-rates is performed.

C (committed capacity): Capacity committed by a service provider for useby a service instance on a link within a service provider network. Acapacity commitment of C ensures that a specified service guarantee ismet at all times. The service provider may commit less bandwidth than C,and assume a risk that the guarantee will not be met at all times.

G (guaranteed-rate): A provisioned value such that ΣI_(i)≧G wheningress-rates have attained a steady-state.

I_(i) (ingress-rate): Actual (measured) rate of traffic introduced byport i of an aggregation-group. The rate may be low-pass filtered orsmoothed to achieve stability.

O_(i) (offered rate): A traffic rate presented by a user to a serviceprovider at port i of an aggregation-group.

n (number of ports): Number of ports associated with anaggregation-group.

T: A fixed time interval between broadcasts of a value of I_(i) by porti of an aggregation-group. Re-computation of the allowed-rate is alsoperformed on this time boundary.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an embodiment of an aggregate-rate servicemodel (100) is illustrated. A service provider network (110) offerstelecommunications services independently to multiple customers, i.e., afirst customer (122) and a second customer (142) in FIG. 1. Traffic isintroduced into service provider network (110) by ports (125) and (145).The connectivity provided to each customer is known as a Virtual LocalArea Network (VLAN) or a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The network maybe an Ethernet network. This example illustrates that only portsassociated with the same customer may communicate. Aggregate-rateservice model (100) does not require any specific network topology, thatis, it may apply to a network of an arbitrary topology.

A single rate guarantee may be specified for aggregate trafficoriginated by a group of ports. A group of ports may include all portsassociated with a customer. In FIG. 1, a guaranteed-rate 100 Mbps isspecified for aggregate traffic originated from a group of ports (125),and a guaranteed-rate 10 Mbps is specified for aggregate traffic from agroup of ports (145). A customer is guaranteed that, for each group ofports, the sum of ingress rates may be not less than the guaranteed-ratewhen offered traffic exceeds the guaranteed-rate and ingress rates havereached a steady state. A service provider need not configure a distinctcapacity associated with each port or each port-pair.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a guaranteed-rate is applied to the sum of acustomer's ingress traffic. In another word, the guaranteed-rate isshared among a group of ports of a customer. For example, 10 Mbps isshared among ports (125) of customer (122). A customer, such as customer(122), may specify only a single aggregate-rate value. Theaggregate-rate service model is efficient when traffic is bursty, sincecapacity not in use at one ingress port may be used at another port.

A guaranteed-rate may also be a provisioned value. The guaranteed-ratemay be requested or purchased by a customer, and provisioned by aservice provider. Thus a service provider may commit additional capacityto ensure an effective guaranteed-rate equal to that requested by acustomer. The amount of over-commitment required may vary with a valueof an available parameter in a Service Level Agreement (SLA), which is acontract between a service provider and customers.

Aggregate-rate service model (100) provides fair access to aggregatecapacity, where a group of ports of a customer share oneguaranteed-rate. That is, a port may not have access to a larger portionof an aggregate by virtue of its physical position with respect to otherports within the group.

Customer traffic rate on any particular link in the interior of aservice provider network may be controlled to be less than anaggregate-rate guaranteed for that customer. This rate control may beprovided by use of rate-control algorithms/protocols. For example, arate-control algorithm may enforce an allowed ingress rate when acustomer's aggregate ingress traffic exceeds a threshold. The thresholdmay be a percentage of capacity committed to that customer by a serviceprovider. A rate-control algorithm may also ensure fair access to aguaranteed-rate specified for a customer.

A specified aggregate-rate may have an arbitrary value. In anaggregate-rate service model (200) as illustrated in FIG. 2, ports(222), (244), (226) and (228) share a guaranteed-rate 22 Mbps in aservice provider network (210).

A group of ports sharing a guaranteed-rate is known as anaggregation-group. There are cases in which it is useful for customersto partition its ports into multiple aggregation-groups, eachguaranteeing a specific aggregate-rate. A customer may divide the portsinto several aggregation-groups, or have some individual ports that donot belong to any aggregation-group.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of an aggregate-rate service model(300), with two aggregation-groups (310) and (320). Four branch sites inaggregation-group (310) share guaranteed-rate of 5 Mbps, while a mainsite (320) may send data with a rate of 22 Mbps without regard todestinations (i.e., a per-port model). This asymmetry reflects a trafficpattern that is not uncommon in customer environments. This example inFIG. 3 illustrates that an aggregation-group need not contain all theports associated with a customer, and that a customer may mix availableservice models as appropriate.

In an embodiment of an aggregate-rate service model (400) as illustratedin FIG. 4, a customer deploys two aggregation-groups (410) and (420).Four branch sites in aggregation-group (410) share a guaranteed-rate 5Mbps. A main site (422) and a disaster recovery site (424) share aguaranteed-rate 22 Mbps. This is a particularly useful application sincemain site (422) and disaster recovery site (424) do not use theguaranteed-rate at the same time.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, an embodiment of an aggregate-rate servicemodel (500) is also suited to applications in which a customer, ratherthan a service provider, wishes to restrict aggregate traffic sent by aset of ports to a single port having limited capacity. This might be thecase when a group of feeder sites (510), e.g. DSL Access Multiplexers(DSLAMs), sends traffic to a concentration site (520) with port capacity100 Mbps, e.g. a Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS). If aggregatetraffic sent by DSLAMs (510) is greater than port capacity of BRAS(520), congestion may occur between DSLAMs (510) and BRAS (520). Thecongestion may be avoided by enforcing an aggregate-rate for DSLAMs(510) to equal to the port capacity of BRAS (520).

An aggregate-rate service model may allow a port to send traffic inexcess of a guaranteed-rate. Such traffic is marked as “non-conformant”,and may be discarded by an intermediate provider switching device, if itis determined that forwarding of the “non-conformant” traffic by thedevice may result in a failure to deliver “compliant” traffic. Sendingof excess-rate traffic may be supported when a service provider networkhas capability of discarding non-compliant traffic.

Aggregate-rate service model(s) of the present invention may be providedto meet requirements of customers with intermittent or “bursty” traffic.There may be an environment where customers intermittently send largefiles to other customers, and where each such file is required to betransferred quickly (i.e., at a high data-rate). In such an environment,it is unlikely that many file transfer occurs concurrently. Hence, arelatively small amount of bandwidth may meet the transfer requirementsof a large number of intermittent senders in an aggregate-rate servicemodel.

Rate management policies may be provided to specify the ways in whichports of an aggregation-group share the capacity of theaggregation-group, and ways to manage capacity requirement of eachindividual port in an aggregation-group. For example, ports associatedwith an aggregation-group may share the capacity of theaggregation-group equally or proportionally according to a weightingscheme, or the allowed-rate of one port may be set to a predefined valueor restricted to a value that is greater than, or less than, apredefined value. Rate-control algorithms may be used to controlindividual rate and aggregate-rate of an aggregation-group according tothe rate management policy.

For each aggregation-group, an aggregate-rate service may becharacterized by a guaranteed-rate, G, an increase in aggregate-rate, B,permitted during each time interval T, and duration of the timeinterval, T. A service level agreement may be that, the system providingan aggregate-rate service guarantees that, for each aggregation-group,either:

total ingress-rate, ΣI_(i), is greater than or equal to G; or

any port having an offered rate, O_(i), greater than or equal to thecurrent ingress-rate, I_(i), may increase its ingress-rate by as much asB during the next time interval T.

An aggregation-group may be identified by a mnemonic character string(aggregation-group-name) or other simple identifier. In one embodiment,a port may create an aggregation-group that does not yet exist, deletean aggregation-group that has been previously created, become a memberof an existing aggregation-group, or withdraw its membership in anexisting aggregation-group by using a novel protocol known as the MRPAggregation-group Registration Protocol (MARP). MARP utilizes thegeneric registration services of the existing IEEE std. 802.1ak MultipleRegistration Protocol (MRP).

In one embodiment, an aggregation-group may be created when aMARP_AGRP_REG primitive is issued by a port. This activity is known asaggregation-group registration. The aggregation-group-name andcontrol-information may be supplied as parameters of the MARP_AGRP_REGprimitive. The control-information may be a Group Media Access Control(MAC) Address, a set of Individual MAC Addresses, and/or otherinformation used by the port to perform the distribution ofcontrol-messages associated with the aggregation-group. AMARP_AGRP_DEREG primitive may be issued by a port to remove theaggregation-group. This operation is known as aggregation-groupderegistration. The aggregation-group-name may be supplied as aparameter of the MARP_AGRP_DEREG primitive.

In one embodiment, a port seeking membership in an aggregation-group mayissue a MARP_AGRP_JOIN primitive with the aggregation-group-name as aparameter. MARP distributes the control-information associated with thataggregation-group to all members of the aggregation-group. Thus, thecontrol-information is provided once, at the time of the MARP_AGRP_REG,and is not repeated when each MARP_AGRP_JOIN is issued. Thecontrol-information may contain one or more MAC addresses having twelvehexadecimal digits. By specifying the control-information once, at thetime of aggregation-group creation, the need to specify such addressesidentically, for each issued MARP_AGRP_JOIN, is eliminated. This is abenefit as repeated specification of such information is prone to humanerror. A port wishing to withdraw from an aggregation-group, may issue aMARP_AGRP_LEAVE primitive specifying the aggregation-group-name as aparameter.

Customers often monitor performance of network services for which theycontract. In many cases, a service provider itself provides themonitoring service. Monitoring is done both to verify that services areadequate and appropriate for customer traffic, and to validate that thelevel of service provided is that which is contracted. An aggregate-ratecontrol may be based on an idea that nearly real-time control may beperformed in the presence of a quantifiable delay. Aggregate-ratecontrol may be performed distinctly at each ingress port, accommodationfor delay is incumbent in most rate-control methods.

In the case of monitoring, however, data analysis and reporting aretimely, but need not be provided in real-time, as in the case ofrate-control. One monitoring method may be based on use of a clocksynchronization protocol, so that each port may identify time periodsoccurring concurrently at each port, with a known deviation. Results maythen be reported distinctly by each port for a given time period, anddata associated with the time periods correlated by a centralizedmonitoring application.

Data, together with a timestamp identifying the time period, is reportedperiodically by each port to a server. The data may include O_(local),A_(local), and I_(local). These values may be averaged over the timeperiod, reported for each time-interval T, or reported for selectedtime-intervals. The server may validate service parameters, by verifyingthat one of the following conditions is met during the time period:

ΣI _(i) ≧G; or

I _((i,t)) −I _((i,t−1)) ≧B or O _(i) ≦A _(i) for every port i in anaggregation-group.

The server may further determine the fraction of time periods in whichthe service parameters have been honored, allowing customers to requestrebates when the percentage of time in which the service parameters havebeen honored is less than that in an SLA between a Service Provider andcustomers.

A server may further provide tables and graphical displays of theservice parameter values, allowing customers to determine when higher orlower levels of service should be purchased.

The aggregate-rate service model provided in the present invention hasmany advantages compared with conventional models. For example, aconventional Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) method requires that ServiceInstance endpoints be associated with a physical ring topology in orderto fairly share ring capacity. Furthermore, there is no method to commitcapacity per Service Instance. Comparatively, the present inventionallows a service provider network of an arbitrary topology to supportmultiple Service Instances such that each Service Instance is associatedwith a specified aggregate-rate value.

Ethernet Virtual Private Line service method and Ethernet Virtual LocalArea network (LAN) service method require provisioning of ratesassociated with each pair of communicating Service Instance endpoints.However, the present invention provides a single guaranteed-rate valueto be provisioned for each aggregation-group.

Table 1 provides a comparison between a service based on a conventionalpoint-to-point service model and a service based on the aggregate-rateservice model in the present invention.

TABLE 1 Point-to-point service model (prior art) Aggregate-rate servicemodel Customer specifies peak capacity Customer specifies a singlerequired between each pair of aggregate-rate for a service.communicating sites. Committed capacity between two Committedaggregate-rate is fairly sites used only five minutes per shared by anysites communicating day may not be used by other at a particular time.communicating sites at other times. Large design and maintenance Reduceddesign and maintenance expense for a customer who must expense for acustomer who need specify many individual capacity only specify anaggregate-rate and commitments and insure their insure the adequacy ofthat single adequacy over time. capacity over time. Large operationalexpense for a Allows a provider to deploy a service provider who mustprovision service that requires some added and maintain a large numberof capacity commitment but individual capacity commitments.significantly reduces operating expenses.

The aggregate-rate service model of the present invention may be equallyapplied in an enterprise LAN environment. For instance, a building LANmay have several aggregation-groups, and each gets a specific share ofnetwork capacity. Within each aggregation-group, the capacity is sharedfairly.

The aggregate-rate service model of the present invention may also beapplied to any communications service that may be characterized ashaving multiple points of ingress, each of which has a measurableingress rate. This may explicitly include a Metropolitan Ethernet (MEN)as defined by the Metropolitan Ethernet Forum (MEF), a Provider BridgedNetwork (PBN) or a Provider Backbone Bridged Network (PBBN) as definedby IEEE 802.1, and an Internet Protocol (IP) Virtual Private Network(VPN), as described by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) IP Requestfor Comment (RFC) 2547.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided toenable those skilled in the art to make or use the present invention.Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent tothose skilled in the art and generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scopeof the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to belimited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widestscope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

1. A system providing aggregate-rate services, comprising: a providernetwork, having an arbitrary topology; a plurality of customers; and aplurality of port nodes, comprising at least one aggregation-group;wherein each of the plurality of customers is associated with at leastone of the plurality of port nodes to access the provider network;wherein the at least aggregation-group guarantees an aggregate-rate;wherein port nodes in the at least one aggregation-group share capacityof the at least one aggregation-group fairly.
 2. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein the providernetwork comprises an Ethernet network.
 3. The system for providingaggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein the provider networkcomprises a network having multiple points of ingress, each with ameasurable ingress rate.
 4. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 1, wherein the provider network comprises a providerbridged network.
 5. The system for providing aggregate-rate services inclaim 1, wherein the provider network comprises a provider backbonebridged network.
 6. The system for providing aggregate-rate services inclaim 1, wherein the provider network comprises an Internet Protocolvirtual private network.
 7. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 1, further comprising an enterprise local areanetwork.
 8. The system for providing aggregate-rate services in claim 1,wherein the guaranteed-rate has an arbitrary value.
 9. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein port nodes in theat least one aggregation-group is allowed to send traffic in excess ofthe guaranteed-rate of the at least one aggregation-group.
 10. Thesystem for providing aggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein the atleast one aggregation-group is associated with at least one of theplurality of customers.
 11. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of customersis associated with at least one of the plurality of port nodes that doesnot belong to the at least one aggregation-group.
 12. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein at least onemethod is provided to control aggregate-rate of the at least oneaggregation-group.
 13. The system for providing aggregate-rate servicesin claim 1, wherein the at least one aggregation-group is identified bya mnemonic character string.
 14. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 13, wherein the mnemonic character string is anaggregation-group-name.
 15. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 1, wherein the at least one aggregation-group iscreated by a port node issuing a MARP_AGRP_REG primitive.
 16. The systemfor providing aggregate-rate services in claim 15, wherein theMARP_AGRP_REG primitive is issued using an MRP Aggregation-groupRegistration Protocol (MARP), and the MRP being Multiple RegistrationProtocol.
 17. The system for providing aggregate-rate services in claim15, wherein the MARP_AGRP_REG primitive comprises anaggregation-group-name and control-information.
 18. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 17, wherein thecontrol-information comprises a group media access control address. 19.The system for providing aggregate-rate services in claim 17, whereinthe control-information comprises a set of individual media accesscontrol addresses.
 20. The system for providing aggregate-rate servicesin claim 17, wherein the control-information comprises information usedby the port node to perform distribution of control-messages associatedwith the at least one aggregation-group.
 21. The system for providingaggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein the at least oneaggregation-group is deleted by a port node issuing a MARP_AGRP_DEREGprimitive.
 22. The system for providing aggregate-rate services in claim21, wherein the MARP_AGRP_DEREG primitive is issued through an MARP. 23.The system for providing aggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein theplurality of port nodes join the at least one aggregation-group byissuing a MARP_AGRP_JOIN primitive.
 24. The system for providingaggregate-rate services in claim 23, wherein the MARP_AGRP_JOINprimitive is issued through a MARP.
 25. The system for providingaggregate-rate services in claim 23, wherein the MARP_AGRP_JOINprimitive comprises an aggregation-group-name.
 26. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein a port nodewithdraws from the at least one aggregation-group by issuing aMARP_AGRP_LEAVE primitive.
 27. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 26, wherein the MARP_AGRP_LEAVE primitive is issuedthrough a MARP.
 28. The system for providing aggregate-rate services inclaim 26, wherein the MARP_AGRP_LEAVE primitive comprises anaggregation-group-name.
 29. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 1, wherein performance monitor is provided for theaggregate-rate services.
 30. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 29, wherein the performance monitor is performed byeach of the plurality of port nodes.
 31. The system for providingaggregate-rate services in claim 29, wherein the performance monitor isprovided using a clock synchronization protocol.
 32. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 31, wherein monitoringresults are reported to a server.
 33. The system for providingaggregate-rate services in claim 32, wherein the monitoring resultscomprise data and timestamp.
 34. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 33, wherein the data comprises O_(local), A_(local),and I_(local).
 35. The system for providing aggregate-rate services inclaim 34, wherein the server verifies that ΣI_(i)≧G.
 36. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 34, wherein the serververifies that I_((i,t))−I_((i,t−1))≧B for each port i in the at leastone aggregation-group.
 37. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 34, wherein the server verifies that O_(i)≦A_(i) forevery port i in the at least one aggregation-group.
 38. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 32, wherein the monitoringresults are reported for a given time period.
 39. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 32, wherein the monitoringresults are reported for selected time periods.
 40. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 32, wherein the serverevaluates whether the aggregate-rate services provided meet a ServiceLevel Agreement (SLA).
 41. The system for providing aggregate-rateservices in claim 32, wherein the server provides tables and graphicaldisplays of parameter values of the aggregate-rate services.
 42. Thesystem for providing aggregate-rate services in claim 1, wherein aservice level agreement is provided.
 43. The system for providingaggregate-rate services in claim 42, wherein the service level agreementprovides that total ingress-rate, ΣI_(i), of the at least oneaggregation-group is greater than or equal to G.
 44. The system forproviding aggregate-rate services in claim 42, wherein the service levelagreement provides that any port, in the at least one aggregation-group,having an offered rate, O_(i), greater than or equal to the currentingress-rate, I_(i), may increase its ingress-rate by as much as Bduring a next time interval T.